The Covid pandemic has isolated me from most of the musicians I used to play with. The amateur wind orchestra I used to go to every Tuesday night hasn't met in a year or so. We aren't so great, but the conductor is dynamic, and we work on difficult music that we'll never be able to play properly. The challenge is fun. Rehearsals are also a social event. The other musicians are friends of a sort.
I also play baritone sax in a sax quartet. We were able to meet sporadically over the year, but now all four of us have been vaccinated, and the restrictions are lifting, and we hope to be able to meet regularly and even start performing again. We have played in schools, old age homes, and even a mental hospital. Not demanding audiences, but rewarding ones.
We played against last night after a very long break, and, amazingly, we can still play together and sound decent. It's fun of a deep kind. It takes concentration. You have to listen to yourself and to the other musicians at the same time, you have to know when to blend in and when to stand out, and you have to stay in tune. The concentration is both tiring and energizing. In the middle of the rehearsal, one of us said, "I forgot how much I missed this."
One of the pieces we played was an arrangement of two bourrees from Bach suites. How uplifting it is to play Bach with other musicians - sublime.
